“Romance and marriage lessons” in schools, which use the social credit system to punish people who abandon their pets and end compulsory English lessons, are one of the proposals made along the sidelines of China’s main political conference.
The proposals were made by delegates during the Chinese Consultative Conference on Political Consultations (CPPCC), one of two major political meetings held in Beijing this week under the auspices of lianghui, or two sessions. Although many of the main focus is on geopolitical and national announcements, the proposals for social policy online have attracted the attention of Chinese people.
The Chinese government is facing a crisis of an aging population, declining birth and marriage rates and rising divorce rates, which it wants to promote with population goals and an increased retirement age. This week, CPPCC delegate Yu Xinwei also suggested mandatory lessons in colleges to strengthen ’emotional education’ in relationships.
“Most university students’ understanding of emotions and sex remains according to the physiological knowledge of sexual health,” Yu said. “When they face emotional or romantic setbacks, they tend to be rabid, get out of control and even commit crime.”
The proposal has garnered support on China’s social media, and some have suggested it be offered in high school earlier. A related hashtag has been viewed nearly half a billion times and posted 22,000 times.
A separate proposal to link pet ownership to China’s controversial social credit system has also attracted attention. Dai Junfeng, the general secretary of the Islamic Association of Yunnan province, told the meeting there were major problems with the fight against stray animals, and abandoned domestic animals were a contributing factor. Dai asked for the microchips of animals to identify owners.
“At the same time, it could join the civil credit system and it could include neglecting pets in their personal credit records,” he said.
A Weibo hashtag associated with the proposal for animal control has been viewed nearly 100 million times, with many before, though some feared it would take the system too far.
“It can be handled administratively, do not use the social credit system too much,” said one.
Social credit systems are in provinces, municipalities, and districts in China, which use technology and surveillance data to give citizens personalized scores based on their actions, and to enforce punishment – such as travel blacklists – for “discredited” people.
The different systems individually interpret general national guidelines and opinions, meaning that there is a geographically dependent series of transgressions that could lead to someone being blacklisted, which is then shared with the national government for publication.
The system is of concern to rights groups and international observers, but has some support in China. In an ethnographic study in 2019 by Xinyuan Wang, a researcher at University College London, it was found that many people see the system as a “national project to promote public morality by combating fraud and crime and combating what is currently considered a nationwide crisis of confidence “.
Séverine Arsène, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said that some administrations ‘go really far’ with their interpretations of national leadership, but that Dai’s hypothetical proposal is not so far off.
She said: ‘Many municipal credit systems have such behavior in their criteria. It’s a lot about complying with rules and regulations on a very daily basis. “
Among other suggestions, Xu Jin, a member of the Jiusan Association’s political group, told the CPCC he wanted to include more school time in subjects, including Chinese and maths, and an end to compulsory English lessons. Xu argued that such lessons are “only useful to the minority” given improvements in translation devices.
Six delegates also called for stronger oversight of face recognition technology to prevent abuses of people’s privacy.
A proposal to the parallel rubber stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, to give teachers a tax cut has been viewed more than 130 million times on Weibo, and a call for gender-neutral parental leave was also popular.
The CPPCC consists mainly of delegates from the party and representatives of approved political parties, and is a largely ceremonial advisory body.
Agence France-Presse contributed to this report